❝ history, front page story, guts and glory ❞

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The team followed Russ and Sophie out of the field area and down the streets of Los Angeles. Sophie and Charlie had met two of Russ friend's that morning and they were looking forward to meeting them again and seeing what they had to teach the team. Everyone seemed eager to witness what would happen once the group of them got to Russ' "boys".

When Russ took them to a basketball, Sophie smiled at the sight of the two boys she knew. Charlie and her walked up to the two of them giving them fistbumps and greeting them.

"Let's see if Sophie can remember your guy's names," Charlie teased, causing Russ and the two other boys to laugh.

"Okay, okay I got this. Um, you're um, James! Your name is James and how could I forget Victor?" Sophie struggled for a moment before snapping and remembering.

Victor gave Sophie a high five before they turned back to their friends. James and the rest of Russ' friends stared at Team USA with intimidating stares causing some of them to shift uncomfortably.

"My little brother Russ here has been telling me that you've been choking big time," James said as he looked between the members in front of him.

"Your brother's got a big mouth," Jesse shot back as she glared at the brothers.

Sophie wore an amused look while the rest of her team looked completely and utterly nervous. Kenny elbowed the girl, mumbling something about them getting killed as he shrinks back slightly. After leaving the others in a long silence, James smiled.

"He does, doesn't he?"

Russ smiled cheekily at his brother before shrugging. Sophie heard Kenny and Goldberg let out sighs of relief causing her to bite back a chuckle.

"Soph and Russ thought it'd be a good idea to call you here and see what you got," James informed the team as they continued to stare at Russ and his friends.

"We know you can talk to the press and sign autographs," Russ continued.

"Okay wait. One of you got stopped for an autograph? Where was I?" Sophie looked between her friends.

Adam sheepishly held his hand up, not looking up from the ground. Dean also held his hand up with a large smile as he looked at Sophie.

"Sorry Soph. You were busy on set," Dean said as he shrugged his shoulders at the girl.

Sophie pouted and crossed her arms, looking away from the boy. Victor chuckled at her causing her to give him a mock glare.

"We can teach you to play like the real Team USA," James brought the conversation back on the proper topic.

"What would you know about it?" Dean asked.

"You'll see," Sophie spoke as she looked between Russ, James, and Victor.

Well let's just say they showed him.

Almost immediately into their game, James shoved Dean into the fence. Sophie watched from the bench with a smile as her teammates had fun. Julie was finally getting to play with them instead of always being on the bench. Sophie cheered as Kenny got the puck and passed it to someone else.

She realized in that moment just how far he had come since the beginning. When they first joined the team, Kenny had barely played the sport but now he was more than able to hold his own in the rink or in this case on the court.

Dean seemed to finally realize that not everyone is always going to be smaller than him. Most of Russ' friends were about the same size as Dean, giving the boy a run for his money.

Charlie and Russ managed to get Sophie to play with them causing Fulton, Dean, and Dwayne to cheer. The girl overdramatically rolled her eyes at the three with a smile before she really got into the game. Everyone on the bench watched as Sophie seemed to have a similar playing style to Russ and his friends.

"No wonder she's here," Goldberg said as he sat next to Kenny.

"Yeah she's amazing. She always has been. It's a shame Bombay doesn't let her play more often. She's just getting started," Kenny said as he watched his best friend shove one of the guys into the fence as she passed him.

Sophie spun around another person as she went to pass to Charlie only for James to get the puck. The older boy skated towards the goal, turning around when he heard someone behind him. Luis stole the puck and skated towards the other goal, Sophie trailing behind him.

"Ah not again!"

Luis wasn't able to stop after he scored and fell into the fence and then to the floor. Sophie was already on her way to help him up, figuring this would happen. Victor skated up next to Luis along with the girl, the two helping the boy up.

"Hey, use the breaks baby," Victor said, causing Sophie to laugh.

The two skated away from Luis, getting back into the game. A few minutes later, Fulton went to shoot the puck into the garbage can they were using as a goal. The puck ricocheted off the bin and flew out of the court and into a car windshield.

"Hey at least it's not Mr. Tibbles face this time," Sophie joked, which made Victor choke on his water.

When the car owner threw the puck back to the group, he yelled out "alley-oop" to which Sophie let out a soft gasp.

"That's the second best thing I've ever heard. The first being 'use the breaks baby.'"

The groups continued playing for a bit. They watched as Russ did his signature "knuckle puck" which thoroughly impressed both of the Reed siblings.

Kenny was able to pass the puck to Sophie who was several feet away from him before he jumped over one of the other players before slipping between another two who tried to sandwich him. Sophie passed it back to Kenny who passed it to Dwayne who shot it into the bin. Sophie hugged her best friend which made the two of them spin around.

James came skating over to Kenny saying he had messed up, intimidating the shorter boy. He kept yelling at the boy causing Kenny to look over his shoulder at Sophie as James kept backing him up. Sophie skated up behind Kenny glaring at James. If looks could kill, James would be six feet under.

"Hey I'm just messing with you. Listen, when a guy comes at you like I just did do this," James instructed. "Stick, gloves, shirt."

James threw his stick to the ground before ripping off his gloves. He then grabbed Kenny and bent him over, pulling the back of his shirt over his head. Kenny stood back up and rolled his shoulders back, his shirt falling back into place. Sophie was thoroughly entertained by the interaction the two boys were having.

"My turn," Kenny said, looking up at James.

He then repeated the process that James had done to the boy. James' shirt went all the way over his head and his arms were now the only part of his body it was attached to. Kenny smiled as the two stood back up and James congratulated him as the rest of their friends rushed over to them.

Sophie looked down at her watch on her wrist and sighed when she saw the time. She looked back up at her team as they groaned when they saw her face. The girl pouted as they began to gather their stuff together since the bus was going to be there in about five minutes.

"Good luck on your game tonight," Victor told the girl as he held her water bottle as she put her stuff away.

"Thanks. We're going to need it," Sophie grinned as she swung her bag onto her shoulder.

"Not if you're carrying the team like you were today," Victor joked.

Sophie laughed before the two embraced in a quick hug. The girl turned to the rest of the guys and thanked them for helping them out. She hugged Russ and James before running to catch up to her team who had already begun to walk towards the bus.

Dean wrapped his arm around Sophie's shoulders as she caught up to him. There was still tension between the two from earlier when her and Adam snapped at him but the two felt it melt away as soon as Dean's arm was around Sophie. Everything seemed to be going great again.